CN111669209A

CN111669209A - Apparatus for correcting offset between base station and wireless communication apparatus and method of operating the same

Info

Publication number: CN111669209A
Application number: CN202010140005.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 金俊泰; 金起日; 俞炫硕
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-06
Filing date: 2020-03-03
Publication date: 2020-09-15
Anticipated expiration: 2040-03-03
Also published as: DE102020100056A1; US11425674B2; CN111669209B; US20200288421A1; US20220394644A1

Abstract

An apparatus for correcting an offset between a base station and a wireless communication apparatus and an operating method thereof are disclosed. A method of operating a wireless communication device to correct an offset between a base station and the wireless communication device comprises: in response to changing a selected reception beam from a first reception beam to a second reception beam in a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) period, determining whether to perform offset correction using a first target SSB to generate a determination result, and performing offset correction on the second reception beam using at least one first neighboring SSB based on the determination result, wherein the first target SSB is received via the second reception beam and the at least one first neighboring SSB is received via the first reception beam.

Description

Apparatus for correcting offset between base station and wireless communication apparatus and method of operating the same

This application claims the rights of korean patent application No. 10-2019-0025865 filed by the korean intellectual property office at 6.3.2019 and korean patent application No. 10-2019-0068810 filed by the korean intellectual property office at 11.6.2019, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Technical Field

The present inventive concept relates to a wireless communication apparatus for correcting an offset caused by a carrier frequency difference and/or a time synchronization error between the wireless communication apparatus and a base station, and an operating method thereof.

Background

As a new radio access technology, a recent fifth generation (5G) communication system is intended to provide data services at ultra high speeds of several Gbps using an ultra wide band having a bandwidth of 100MHz or more, as compared to an existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system and LTE-advanced (LTE-a) communication system. However, since it is difficult to secure an ultra-wideband frequency of 100MHz or more in a frequency band of several hundreds MHz or several GHz for LTE and LTE-a, the 5G communication system considers a method of transmitting a signal using a wide frequency band in a 6GHz or more frequency band. Specifically, it is considered to increase the transmission rate in a 5G communication system using a millimeter wave band such as a 28GHz band or a 60GHz band. However, the size of the frequency band is proportional to the path loss of the corresponding radio wave, and the path loss of the radio wave is considerably large in the ultra high frequency, thereby reducing the service area of the 5G communication system.

In order to overcome the reduction of the service area, beamforming, which increases the propagation range of radio waves by generating directional beams using a plurality of antennas, is considered as an important technique in a 5G communication system. Beamforming techniques may be applied to each of a transmitter (e.g., a base station) and a receiver (e.g., a terminal), and may not only increase a service area but also reduce interference due to physical beams being concentrated in a target direction.

In a 5G communication system, a technique of selecting an optimal or desired transmit beam and/or an optimal or desired receive beam would be advantageous because the effectiveness of beamforming techniques is enhanced only when the direction of the transmit beam of the transmitter is adjusted to the direction of the receive beam of the receiver.

Disclosure of Invention

The present inventive concept provides a wireless communication apparatus and a method of operating the same, wherein the wireless communication apparatus improves communication performance by continuously performing offset correction while selecting a reception beam optimally or ideally tuned to a specific base station in a wireless communication system.

According to an aspect of the inventive concept, there is provided a method of operating a wireless communication device to correct an offset between a base station and the wireless communication device, wherein the method comprises: in response to changing a selected reception beam from a first reception beam to a second reception beam in a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) period, determining whether to perform offset correction using a first target SSB to generate a determination result, and performing offset correction on the second reception beam using at least one first neighboring SSB based on the determination result, wherein the first target SSB is received via the second reception beam and the at least one first neighboring SSB is received via the first reception beam.

According to an aspect of the inventive concept, there is provided a method of operating a wireless communication apparatus which communicates with a base station via a selected beam pair comprising a selected transmit beam and a selected receive beam, wherein the method comprises: receiving a plurality of adjacent Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) from a base station via the selected receive beam, wherein the plurality of adjacent SSBs are transmitted via a subset of a plurality of transmit beams, the subset of the plurality of transmit beams excluding the selected transmit beam, the selected receive beam is a first receive beam of a plurality of receive beams, and the selected transmit beam is a first transmit beam of the plurality of transmit beams; receiving a target SSB via a second receive beam of the plurality of receive beams in response to changing the selected receive beam from a first receive beam to a second receive beam, wherein the target SSB is transmitted via a first transmit beam; and performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery on the second receive beam using the plurality of adjacent SSBs.

According to an aspect of the inventive concept, there is provided a wireless communication apparatus, wherein the wireless communication apparatus includes: a plurality of antennas configured to receive Radio Frequency (RF) signals from a base station via a plurality of receive beams; a local oscillator configured to generate an oscillation signal having a local oscillation frequency; and processing circuitry configured to: generating a baseband signal using an RF signal and an oscillation signal, wherein the baseband signal includes a target Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) received via a first receive beam of the plurality of receive beams and at least one adjacent SSB received via a second receive beam of the plurality of receive beams in response to a selected receive beam changing from the first receive beam to the second receive beam; and determining whether to perform automatic frequency control on the local oscillation frequency using the at least one neighboring SSB.

Drawings

Embodiments of the inventive concept will become more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a diagram of a wireless communication system according to an example embodiment;

fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining a synchronization signal including a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) received from a base station;

fig. 3 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment;

fig. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the automatic frequency controller of fig. 4;

fig. 6A and 6B are diagrams for explaining a method of determining adjacent SSBs according to an example embodiment;

fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment;

fig. 8 is a flow chart of a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment;

fig. 9A and 9B are flowcharts of a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment;

fig. 10A to 10C are diagrams for explaining a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a symbol timing recovery controller according to an example embodiment;

fig. 12 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the symbol timing recovery controller of fig. 11;

fig. 13A and 13B are diagrams for explaining a method of operating a symbol timing recovery controller according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an example embodiment.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a diagram of a wireless communication system 1 according to an example embodiment, and fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining a synchronization signal including a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) received from a base station.

Referring to fig. 1, a wireless communication system 1 may include a base station 10 and/or a wireless communication device 100. For convenience of description, although the wireless communication system 1 is shown in fig. 1 to include only one base station 10, this is merely an example embodiment, and the wireless communication system 1 may include more base stations. The inventive concept described below can be applied to other base stations.

The wireless communication device 100 may access the wireless communication system 1 by transmitting signals to the base station 10 and/or receiving signals from the base station 10. The wireless communication system 1 accessible by the wireless communication device 100 may be referred to as a Radio Access Technology (RAT). As non-limiting examples, the wireless communication system 1 may be a wireless communication system using a cellular network, such as a fifth generation (5G) communication system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, an LTE-advanced (LTE-a) communication system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication system, and/or a global system for mobile communications (GSM), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication system, and/or another wireless communication system. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the wireless communication system 1 accessed by the wireless communication apparatus 100 is a 5G communication system, but the exemplary embodiment is not limited thereto, and it is apparent that the inventive concept can be applied to a next-generation wireless communication system.

The wireless communication network of the wireless communication system 1 can support communication among a plurality of wireless communication apparatuses including the wireless communication apparatus 100 by sharing available network resources. For example, information may be communicated over a wireless communication network in different multiple access modes, such as a CDMA mode, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) mode, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) mode, an Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) mode, a single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) mode, an OFDM-FDMA mode, an OFDM-TDMA mode, and/or an OFDM-CDMA mode.

Base station 10 may generally refer to a fixed station that may communicate with wireless communication device 100 and/or another base station and may exchange data and/or control information with wireless communication device 100 and/or another base station. For example, the base station 10 may be referred to as a node B, evolved node B (enb), next generation node B (gnb), sector, site, Base Transceiver System (BTS), Access Point (AP), relay node, Remote Radio Head (RRH), Radio Unit (RU), cell, and/or small cell. In this specification, a base station may be construed in a broad sense to refer to or correspond to a partial area and/or function and may include various coverage areas (such as a very large cell, a macro cell, a micro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, a relay node, an RRH, an RU, and/or a small cell communication range) where the partial area and/or function is covered by a Base Station Controller (BSC) in CDMA, a node B in wideband CDMA (wcdma), and/or an eNB or sector (or site) in LTE.

Wireless communication device 100 may be fixed or mobile as a User Equipment (UE) and may refer to a wireless communication device that may transmit and/or receive data and/or control information to/from a base station. For example, the wireless communication device 100 may be referred to as a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), a User Terminal (UT), a Subscriber Station (SS), a wireless device, a portable device, and/or a terminal.

Referring to fig. 1, a wireless communication apparatus 100 may be connected to a base station 10 through a wireless channel and may provide various communication services. The base station 10 may serve all or some user traffic through the shared channel, may collect status information such as buffer status, available transmission power status and/or channel status, and/or may perform scheduling. The wireless communication system 1 may support beamforming using OFDM as a radio access technology. Further, the wireless communication system 1 may support an Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC) scheme in which a modulation scheme and a channel coding rate may be determined according to a channel state of the wireless communication apparatus 100.

The wireless communication system 1 can transmit and/or receive signals using a wide frequency band in a frequency band of 6GHz or higher. For example, the wireless communication system 1 may use a millimeter wave band such as a 28GHz band or a 60GHz band to increase the data transmission rate. Since signal attenuation per unit distance is relatively large in the millimeter wave band, the wireless communication system 1 can support transmission and/or reception based on a directional beam generated using a plurality of antennas to ensure or improve coverage. The wireless communication system 1 may perform beam scanning for directional beam based transmission and/or reception.

The beam scanning is a process in which the wireless communication apparatus 100 and the base station 10 can sequentially or randomly scan a directional beam having a specific pattern and can determine a transmission beam and a reception beam having directions tuned to each other. The transmission beam and the reception beam, the directions of which are tuned to each other, may be determined as a transmission/reception beam pair (may also be referred to as a "beam pair"). At this time, the transmission beam and the reception beam selected as being tuned to each other as a result of the beam scanning may be referred to as an optimal transmission beam (may also be referred to as "selected transmission beam") and an optimal reception beam (may also be referred to as "selected reception beam") (may be collectively referred to as "selected beam pair"), respectively. The beam pattern may be the shape of the beam, wherein the shape of the beam is determined by the width and direction of the beam. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the first reception beam RX _ B1 is determined as the best reception beam among a plurality of reception beams RX _ B1 to pth reception beam RX-Bp (e.g., first RX _ B1, second RX _ B2, third RX _ B3, …, and pRX _ Bp) of the wireless communication apparatus 100 as a result of beam scanning, and the first transmission beam TX _ B1 is determined as the best transmission beam among a plurality of transmission beams TX _ B1 to TX _ Bn (e.g., first TX _ B1, second TX _ B2, third TX _ B3, fourth TX _ B4, fifth TX _ B5, sixth TX _ B6, seventh TX _ B7, eighth TX _ B8, …, and nth TX _ Bn) of the base station. Then, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may scan other reception beams except the first reception beam RX _ B1 according to a variable communication environment of the wireless communication apparatus 100 (e.g., a change in the communication environment due to movement of the wireless communication apparatus 100) to select a new best reception beam (also referred to herein as "changing from" the first reception beam to "the second reception beam), and may periodically receive the plurality of SSBs transmitted from the base station 10 via the transmission beams TX _ B1 to TX _ Bn.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the base station 10 may transmit a signal including one of the first SSBSSB1 through the nth SSB SSBn (e.g., the first SSB1, the second SSB2, the third SSB3, the fourth SSB4, the fifth SSB5, the sixth SSB6, …, the nth SSB SSBn) to the wireless communication apparatus 100 via one of the transmission beams TX _ B1 through TX _ Bn. For example, the base station 10 may transmit a signal including a first SSB1 to the wireless communication device 100 via a first transmit beam TX _ B1 and a signal including a second SSB2 to the wireless communication device 100 via a second transmit beam TX _ B2. In this manner, the base station 10 may transmit the respective SSBs (e.g., SSBs 1 through SSBn) to the wireless communication device 100 via the transmission beams TX _ B1 through TX _ Bn, and the wireless communication device 100 may continuously perform an operation of updating an optimal reception beam (e.g., a selected reception beam) that is tuned with the optimal transmission beam (e.g., the selected transmission beam) optimally or as desired using the first through nth SSBs 1 through SSBn.

Referring to fig. 2, the SSB may include a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and/or a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). For example, the SSB may include four symbols, and each of the PSS, SSS, and PBCH may be located at a position corresponding to a specific Resource Block (RB) in the frequency axis direction. Further, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers. For example, the PSS corresponding to the first symbol may be transmitted to the wireless communication apparatus 100 through 127 subcarriers.

For example, two SSBs may be allocated to a time slot of a signal, and the wireless communication device 100 may receive a set of SSBs burst (SSB burst set) from the base station 10 during a particular SSB period. For example, assuming that the wireless communication system 1 is a New Radio (NR) system using a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may receive a SSB burst set including "n" SSBs (e.g., SSBs 1 through SSBn) from the base station 10 during an SSB period. At this time, the length of a single slot may be 1ms, and the SSB period may be 20 ms. However, this is merely an example embodiment, and embodiments are not limited thereto. The number of SSBs in the SSB burst set, the SSB period, and/or the length of a single slot may vary with the size of the subcarrier spacing, the period of the synchronization signal set in the base station 10, and the like.

The wireless communication device 100 may receive the first SSB1 through the nth SSB SSBn from the base station 10. Hereinafter, the SSB transmitted from the base station 10 via the optimal transmission beam is defined as a target SSB. For example, when the optimal transmission beam is the first transmission beam TX _ B1, the target SSB may be the first SSB 1.

According to example embodiments, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may continuously perform an operation of correcting an offset caused by a carrier frequency difference and/or a time synchronization error between the wireless communication apparatus 100 and the base station 10 while performing scanning to update the optimal reception beam. In embodiments, the operation of correcting the offset may include automatic frequency control for correcting a frequency offset between the base station 10 and the wireless communication device 100, and/or symbol timing recovery for correcting a symbol timing offset between the base station 10 and the wireless communication device 100.

As described above, the operation of the wireless communication apparatus 100 according to an example embodiment will be described assuming that the best transmission beam is the first transmission beam TX _ B1 and the best reception beam is the first reception beam RX _ B1.

The wireless communication apparatus 100 may change the best reception beam to the second reception beam RX _ B2 at a point (e.g., a random, set, or determined point) within a particular SSB period to update the best reception beam, and may determine whether to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX _ B2 using a target SSB (e.g., the first SSB1) received via the second reception beam RX _ B2. In other words, the wireless communication device 100 may perform offset correction on the first receive beam RX _ B1 using SSBs received via the first receive beam RX _ B1 within a particular SSB period, and when the best receive beam changes to the second receive beam RX _ B2 (e.g., when the selected receive beam changes from the first receive beam RX _ B1 to the second receive beam RX _ B2), the wireless communication device 100 may determine whether to perform offset correction on the second receive beam RX _ B2 using a target SSB (e.g., the first SSB1) received via the second receive beam RX _ B2. Hereinafter, the offset correction of a specific reception beam may be interpreted as an offset correction performed based on a signal received via the specific reception beam.

The wireless communication device 100 may selectively use one of the target SSB and/or the neighboring SSB to perform offset correction on the second receive beam RX _ B2 based on the determination result. The neighboring SSBs may be used in place of the target SSB for offset correction and may be the SSB received via the best receive beam (e.g., first receive beam RX _ B1) prior to scanning. The method of determining the neighboring SSB will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 6A to 6B.

According to an embodiment, the wireless communication device 100 may continuously (e.g., repeatedly) perform offset correction on the second receive beam RX _ B2 after offset correction on the first receive beam RX _ B1 even when the best receive beam is changed to the second receive beam RX _ B2.

According to an example embodiment, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may generate (or measure or determine) a reception quality for a target SSB (e.g., the first SSB1), compare the reception quality to a reference quality, and determine to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX _ B2 using the target SSB (e.g., the first SSB1) when the reception quality is equal to or higher than the reference quality. When the reception quality of the target SSB (e.g., the first SSB1) is below the reference quality, the wireless communication device 100 may determine to perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX _ B2 using at least one neighboring SSB. In other words, when the reception quality of the target SSB (e.g., the first SSB1) received via the second reception beam RX _ B2 is not satisfactory, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may perform offset correction on the second reception beam RX _ B2 using at least one neighboring SSB instead of the target SSB (e.g., the first SSB 1). Further, the reception quality of the SSB may include at least one selected from a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the SSB and/or a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the SSB. According to some example embodiments, the RSRP and/or SNR of each SSB may be determined using structures and/or methods known to those of ordinary skill in the art. However, this is merely an example embodiment, and embodiments are not limited thereto. The wireless communication device 100 may generate the reception quality of the SSB based on various matrices that may indicate the reception quality.

According to example embodiments, the wireless communication device 100 may selectively perform offset correction using one of the target SSB and/or the neighboring SSB continuously, even when operating to update the optimal reception beam that is optimally or desirably tuned with the optimal transmission beam, thereby improving communication performance.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device 100 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 3, wireless communication device 100 may include multiple antennas 110, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 120, a processor 130, a local oscillator 140, and/or a memory 150. According to an example embodiment, the processor 130 may include an automatic frequency controller 131, a symbol timing recovery controller 132, and/or a sampler 133. Although not shown, the processor 130 may also include additional elements, such as an analog-to-digital converter. According to some example embodiments, operations described herein as being performed by base station 10, wireless communication device 100, RF circuitry 120, processor 130, local oscillator 140, automatic frequency controller 131, symbol timing recovery controller 132, and/or sampler 133 may be performed by processing circuitry. The term "processing circuitry" as used in this disclosure may refer to, for example, hardware comprising logic circuitry; a hardware/software combination such as a processor executing software; or a combination thereof. For example, the processing circuitry may more particularly include, but is not limited to, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), and so forth. For example, each element (e.g., RF circuitry 120, processor 130, and/or local oscillator 140) in wireless communication device 100 may be implemented as a hardware block comprising analog circuitry and/or digital circuitry, or as a software block comprising a plurality of instructions executed by at least one processor or the like. In some embodiments, the automatic frequency controller 131 and/or the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may be implemented in a modem chip.

The wireless communication device 100 may receive signals from a base station through a downlink channel. The characteristics of the downlink channel may change depending on the state and/or environment of the wireless communication device 100 and/or the base station. In other words, an offset may occur in communication parameters between the wireless communication device 100 and the base station due to a carrier frequency difference and/or a time synchronization error between the wireless communication device 100 and the base station. The wireless communication device 100 may perform operations to correct such offsets to improve or improve communication performance.

RF circuit 120 may receive an input signal IN from a base station through antenna 110 and an oscillating signal OS from local oscillator 140. The RF circuit 120 may generate a baseband signal BS from the input signal IN and the oscillation signal OS and output the baseband signal BS to the processor 130. Here, the input signal IN may be an RF signal having a higher center frequency due to (or corresponding to) a carrier wave, and the oscillation signal OS may be a local oscillation frequency having a frequency corresponding to (e.g., corresponding to) the carrier wave. For example, the RF circuit 120 may include an analog down-conversion mixer, and may generate the baseband signal BS by down-converting the frequency of the input signal IN. When the local oscillation frequency does not coincide with the carrier frequency of the input signal IN, a frequency shift may occur.

According to an example embodiment, the automatic frequency controller 131 may selectively use one of the target SSB and/or the neighboring SSB to correct the frequency offset between the base station 10 and the wireless communication device 100 during the operation of updating the optimal reception beam. In some embodiments, the target SSB and the neighboring SSBs may be received in one SSB cycle. IN detail, when the optimal reception beam is changed to the second reception beam as a result of updating the optimal reception beam, the automatic frequency controller 131 may select one of the target SSB and/or the neighboring SSB and generate (or estimate) a frequency offset with respect to the input signal IN received via the second reception beam. The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate a frequency control signal F _ CTR based on the frequency offset, wherein the frequency control signal F _ CTR makes the local oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal OS coincide with the carrier frequency of the input signal IN. A specific embodiment of the automatic frequency controller 131 will be described below with reference to fig. 4 to 10C.

Symbol timing offset may occur when the symbol timing for data samples in the base station does not coincide with the symbol timing for data samples in the wireless communication device 100.

According to an example embodiment, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may selectively use the target SSB and/or one of the neighboring SSBs to correct the symbol timing offset between the base station 10 and the wireless communication device 100 during the update of the optimal receive beam operation. IN detail, when the optimal reception beam is changed to the second reception beam as a result of updating the optimal reception beam, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may select one from the target SSB and/or the neighboring SSB and generate (or estimate) a symbol timing offset with respect to the input signal IN received via the second reception beam. The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may generate a symbol timing recovery control signal STR _ CTR that makes the symbol timing of the base station 10 coincide with the symbol timing of the wireless communication apparatus 100 based on the symbol timing offset, and may output the symbol timing recovery control signal STR _ CTR to the sampler 133. A specific embodiment of the symbol timing recovery controller 132 will be described below with reference to fig. 12 to 13B.

The memory 150 may store data that may be used when the automatic frequency controller 131 and the symbol timing recovery controller 132 perform operations according to example embodiments. According to some example embodiments, memory 150 may be implemented using Random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, Read Only Memory (ROM), electrically programmable ROM (eprom), electrically erasable programmable ROM (eeprom), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD ROM, and/or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an automatic frequency controller 131 according to an example embodiment, and fig. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation of the automatic frequency controller 131 of fig. 4.

Referring to fig. 4, the automatic frequency controller 131 may include an adjacent SSB determiner 131a and/or an alternative frequency offset generator 131 b. The neighbor SSB determiner 131a may determine at least one neighbor SSB from among a plurality of SSBs received within a particular SSB period, wherein the at least one neighbor SSB may be used instead of the target SSB for performing the frequency offset correction. Specific embodiments of the neighboring SSB determiner 131a will be described below with reference to fig. 6A to 6B. According to some example embodiments, the operations described herein as being performed by the neighboring SSB determiner 131a and/or the alternative frequency offset generator 131b may be performed by processing circuitry.

The alternate frequency offset generator 131b may generate an alternate frequency offset using the neighboring SSB determined by the neighboring SSB determiner 131 a. The automatic frequency controller 131 may perform automatic frequency control based on the alternative frequency offset. Specific embodiments of the alternative frequency offset generator 131b will be described below with reference to fig. 8 to 10C.

Although the operations of the neighboring SSB determiner 131a and the alternative frequency offset generator 131b have been described with reference to fig. 4, respectively, for convenience of description, the operations may be defined as being performed by the automatic frequency controller 131.

In fig. 5, it is assumed that the jth SSB _ j, m is a target SSB, the ith SSB _ i, m and the kth SSB _ k, m are adjacent SSBs, the optimal reception beam is a first reception beam, and the reception beam to which the optimal reception beam is changed by scanning the reception beam is a second reception beam. The horizontal direction in fig. 5 does not indicate the time axis. Also, the illustration in fig. 5 is only an example, and the embodiment is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 5, the wireless communication apparatus may receive a plurality of SSBs of an xth SSB _ x, m to an yth SSB _ y, m from a base station in an mth SSB period, where'm' is an integer. In detail, the wireless communication apparatus may receive neighboring SSBs (e.g., an xth SSB _ x, m and an yth SSB _ y, m) via a first reception beam, and may receive a target SSB (e.g., a jth SSB _ j, m) via a second reception beam. The automatic frequency controller 131 may continuously perform automatic frequency control on the first reception beam based on a frequency offset generated using a target SSB received in an SSB period before the mth SSB period. However, when the best receive beam is changed to the second receive beam in the mth SSB period (e.g., the best receive beam originally selected as the first receive beam is changed to, updated to, and/or reselected to the second receive beam), it may be desirable to determine whether the target SSB received via the second receive beam (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m) is suitable for the first automatic frequency control AFC 1.

Accordingly, when the best receive beam is changed to the second receive beam to update the best receive beam (e.g., from the first receive beam to the second receive beam in response to the selected receive beam) in the mth SSB period, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine 1 whether to perform the first automatic frequency control AFC on the second receive beam using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m). The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate or determine a reception quality of a target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m) and determine whether to perform the first automatic frequency control AFC1 based on the reception quality. For example, when the reception quality of the target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m) is equal to or higher than the reference quality, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform the first automatic frequency control AFC1 using the target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m). The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate a channel estimate using at least one selected from the PSS, SSS, and/or PBCH of a target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m), and may generate a differential correlation result by calculating a differential correlation of the channel estimate. Since the frequency offset exerts almost the same or similar influence on all subcarriers over the entire bandwidth, the automatic frequency controller 131 can calculate the differential correlation by multiplying the channel estimate of the current time index by the complex conjugate of the channel estimate of the previous time index and accumulating the multiplication results. In addition, the automatic frequency controller 131 may calculate a phase estimate from the differential correlation result. Here, the phase estimation may refer to an estimated value of a phase change, and the phase change may be proportional to a frequency offset between the carrier frequency and the local oscillation frequency. In detail, the frequency offset Δ f may be calculated using equation 1:

ym [ k ] may be a result of estimating a frequency domain channel at a resource element corresponding to an index of a kth reference signal in the mth symbol. T may be a distance between two symbols (e.g., T may be 2 when calculating a product of an (m-L) -th symbol and an (m-L +2) -th symbol) and Ns may be the number of available reference signals. N may be a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size and CP may be a length of a cyclic prefix.

The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate a frequency offset using the target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m) based on equation 1 and perform a first automatic frequency control AFC1 based on the frequency offset.

When the reception quality of the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m) is lower than the reference quality, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform the second automatic frequency control AFC2 and/or the third automatic frequency control AFC3 using the neighboring SSBs (e.g., the ith SSB _ i, m and/or the kth SSB _ k, m). In some embodiments, the automatic frequency controller 131 may select one of the ith SSB _ i, m and the kth SSB _ k, m and perform automatic frequency control corresponding to the selected neighboring SSB using the selected neighboring SSB. The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate the alternative frequency offset using the neighboring SSBs (e.g., the ith SSB _ i, m and/or the kth SSB _ k, m) based on equation 1. Thereafter, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform the second automatic frequency control AFC2 and/or the third automatic frequency control AFC3 based on the alternative frequency offset.

Specific embodiments of the second and third automatic frequency control AFCs 2, 3 using adjacent SSBs (e.g., the ith and kth SSBs SSB _ i, m, and SSB _ k, m), respectively, will be described below with reference to fig. 8-10C.

Fig. 6A and 6B are diagrams for explaining a method of determining adjacent SSBs according to an example embodiment. Reference will also be made to fig. 3 in the following description.

Referring to fig. 3 and 6A, the processor 130 may generate reception quality (e.g., SNR and/or RSRP) of each SSB of the first to nth SSB1 to SSB SSBn received in at least one SSB period before the mth SSB period of fig. 5 or a plurality of SSB periods including the mth SSB period for the first to pth reception beams RX _ B1 to RX _ Bp. For example, processor 130 may generate an SNR or RSRP for the nth SSBSSBn when the nth SSBSSBn is received via each of first through pth receive beams RX _ B1 through RX _ Bp. The nth table TB _ SSBn may include information about reception quality of the nth SSBSSBn for the first through pth reception beams RX _ B1 through RX _ Bp. In this manner, each of the first through (n-1) th tables TB _ SSB1 through TB _ SSBn may include information regarding reception quality of a respective one of the first through (n-1) th SSB1 through SSB SSBn for the first through pth receive beams RX _ B1 through RX _ Bp. The first through nth tables TB _ SSB1 through TB _ SSBn may be stored in the memory 150, and the processor 130 may access the memory 150 to refer to the first through nth tables TB _ SSB1 through TB _ SSBn.

Referring to fig. 6B, in operation S100, the automatic frequency controller 131 may obtain a reception quality of an h SSB SSBh (where "h" is an integer less than "n") received through the best reception beam with reference to the first to nth tables TB _ SSB1 to TB _ SSBn of fig. 6A. For example, when the best reception beam is the first reception beam RX _ B1, the automatic frequency controller 131 may obtain the reception quality of the h-th SSB SSBh corresponding to the first reception beam RX _ B1 with reference to the h-th table TB _ SSBh. According to some example embodiments, h may be initialized to a value of "1" before operation S100 of the first iteration. In operation S110, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine whether the reception quality is equal to or higher than a reference quality. Various methods may be used to set the reference quality to determine the neighboring SSBs. For example, the reference quality may be set based on the reception quality of the target SSB received via the best reception beam.

When the answer is yes in operation S110, the h-th SSB SSBh may be determined as the neighboring SSB in operation S120. When the answer is no in operation S110 or after operation S120, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine whether "h" is equal to "n" in operation S130. When the answer is no in operation S130, the "h" count is increased (e.g., incremented) in operation S140, and the method proceeds to operation S100. When the answer is yes, the afc 131 may selectively perform afc using at least one neighboring SSB.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment. Reference will also be made to fig. 3 in the following description.

Referring to fig. 3 and 7, the automatic frequency controller 131 may change an optimal reception beam formed in the antenna 110 to a reception beam having a different pattern in operation S200. For example, the automatic frequency controller 131 may change the optimal reception beam formed in the antenna 110 from a first reception beam to a second reception beam to update the optimal reception beam. In operation S210, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine whether to perform automatic frequency control on the second reception beam using the target SSB received via the second reception beam. In an example embodiment, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform the determination based on whether the reception quality of the target SSB received via the second reception beam is equal to or higher than the reference quality. Various methods may be used to set the reference quality to determine whether to perform automatic frequency control using the target SSB.

In an example embodiment, the reference quality may be set based on a reception quality of at least one neighboring SSB in the same SSB period as when the target SSB was received or a similar SSB period and/or a reception quality of the target SSB received in at least one other SSB period. As described in detail with reference to fig. 5, the reference quality may be set based on the reception quality of neighboring SSBs (e.g., ith SSB _ i, m and kth SSB _ k, m) in the mth SSB period when the target SSB (e.g., jth SSBSSB _ j, m) is received and the reception quality of the target SSB received in at least one other SSB period (e.g., (m-1) th SSB period) before the mth SSB period. However, this is merely an example embodiment, and embodiments are not limited thereto. The reference quality may be set based on various matrices such that the frequency offset error caused by using the target SSB received via the changed receive beam is within a tolerance.

When the answer is yes in operation S210, that is, when the reception quality of the target SSB is equal to or higher than the reference quality, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform automatic frequency control using the target SSB in operation S220. Otherwise, when the answer is no in operation S210, that is, when the reception quality of the target SSB is lower than the reference quality, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform automatic frequency control using at least one neighboring SSB in operation S230.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment. Reference will also be made to fig. 3 in the following description.

Referring to fig. 3 and 8, when it is determined that the automatic frequency control is performed using at least one neighboring SSB after operation S210 in fig. 7, the automatic frequency controller 131 may obtain a reception quality corresponding to the at least one neighboring SSB at operation S231. For example, the afc 131 may generate (or measure or determine) the reception quality of the neighboring SSBs received via the best receive beam. In operation S233, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine suitability of automatic frequency control for the neighboring SSB. In other words, the afc 131 may determine whether it is appropriate to perform afc using the neighboring SSBs. In an example embodiment, the automatic frequency controller 131 may determine whether the reception quality of the neighboring SSB is equal to or higher than a reference quality (e.g., may determine that the neighboring SSB having the reception quality equal to or higher than the reference quality is suitable for performing automatic frequency control). Various methods may be used to set the reference quality to determine the suitability of the automatic frequency control for the neighboring SSB. In an example embodiment, the reference quality may be set based on a reception quality of at least one neighboring SSB received via the best reception beam in other SSB periods.

When the answer is yes in operation S233, that is, when the reception quality of the neighboring SSB is equal to or higher than the reference quality, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform automatic frequency control based on the substitute frequency offset generated (or estimated) using the neighboring SSB in operation S235. Otherwise, when the answer is no in operation S233, that is, when the reception quality of the neighboring SSB is lower than the reference quality, the automatic frequency controller 131 may skip the automatic frequency control for the reception beam changed from the optimal reception beam in operation S237.

Fig. 9A and 9B are flowcharts of a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment. Figure (a). Reference will also be made to fig. 3 in the following description.

Referring to fig. 3 and 9A, when there are a plurality of adjacent SSBs, after operation S233 in fig. 8, the automatic frequency controller 131 may select an SSB to be used for automatic frequency control from the adjacent SSBs in operation S235_1 a. In an example embodiment, the automatic frequency controller 131 may select the neighboring SSB having the highest reception quality among the neighboring SSBs. In operation S235_2a, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform automatic frequency control based on the alternative frequency offset corresponding to the selected SSB.

Referring to fig. 9B, when there are a plurality of neighboring SSBs, after operation S233 in fig. 8, the automatic frequency controller 131 may calculate an average value of the substitute frequency offsets corresponding to the neighboring SSBs (to obtain or generate a calculated average substitute frequency offset) in operation S235_ 1B. In operation S235_2b, the automatic frequency controller 131 may perform automatic frequency control based on the calculated average substitute frequency offset.

Fig. 10A to 10C are diagrams for explaining a method of operating an automatic frequency controller according to an example embodiment. Reference will also be made to fig. 3 in the following description.

Referring to fig. 10A and 10B, a frequency offset between a transmission frequency freq _ TX (or carrier frequency) of a base station and a local oscillation frequency of the wireless communication apparatus 100 may be different for each SSB (each SSB of a plurality of SSBs of the xth SSB _ x, m-1 to the yth SSB _ y, m-1). For example, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may receive a target SSB (e.g., jth SSBSSB _ j, m-1) and neighboring SSBs (e.g., ith SSB _ i, m-1 and kth SSB _ k, m-1) from the base station via the best reception beam (e.g., first reception beam) in an m-1 SSB period before the mth SSB period; and the frequency offset Δ freq _ SSBj, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m-1) may be different from the frequency offsets Δ freq _ SSBi, m-1 and Δ freq _ SSBk, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the neighboring SSBs (e.g., the ith SSB _ i, m-1 and the kth SSB _ k, m-1). For example, the ith offset difference diff _ freq _ i may be between the frequency offset Δ freq _ SSBj, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m-1) and the frequency offset Δ freq _ SSBi, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the ith SSBSSB _ i, m-1; and the kth offset difference diff _ freq _ k may be between the frequency offset Δ freq _ SSBj, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m-1) and the frequency offset Δ freq _ SSBk, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the kth SSB _ k, m-1.

The automatic frequency controller 131 may generate the ith and kth offset differences diff _ freq _ i, diff _ freq _ k using the frequency offsets Δ freq _ SSBj, m-1, Δ freq _ SSBi, m-1 and Δ freq _ SSBk, m-1 generated when the first through third automatic frequency control AFCs 1 through 3 are performed.

According to an example embodiment, the automatic frequency controller 131 may generate an offset difference between a frequency offset generated (or estimated) using a target SSB received via an optimal reception beam in a specific SSB period and each frequency offset respectively generated (or estimated) using an adjacent SSB received via the optimal reception beam. Then, the automatic frequency controller 131 may reflect the offset difference in the automatic frequency control using at least one SSB selected from the neighboring SSBs. In detail, when generating (or estimating) the substitute frequency offset using the adjacent SSBs (e.g., the ith SSB _ i, m and the kth SSB _ k, m) received in the mth SSB period in fig. 5, the automatic frequency controller 131 may use the ith offset difference diff _ offset _ i and the kth offset difference diff _ offset _ k.

Referring to fig. 10C, after operation S233 in fig. 8, the automatic frequency controller 131 may generate an offset difference corresponding to the adjacent SSB in operation S235_ 1C. For example, the automatic frequency controller 131 may generate an offset difference according to a frequency offset generated (or estimated) using the target SSB and the neighboring SSBs received via the optimal reception beam in a specific SSB period. In operation S235_2c, the automatic frequency controller 131 may generate an alternative frequency offset by applying the offset difference to the frequency offset corresponding to the adjacent SSB. In detail, the automatic frequency controller 131 may apply the offset difference using equation 2:

in some embodiments, when

When the quality of (d) is unknown, a simple arithmetic mean can be calculated using equation 3:

when there are a plurality of neighboring SSBs (negihbor SSBs) SSB _ x, the afc 131 may generate the substitute frequency offset Δ f by performing a calculation on the following items based on equation 2 or 3_Alternate: frequency offset Δ f corresponding to target SSB (e.g., jth SSBSSB _ j, m-1)_{SSB_j.m-1}Frequency offset Δ f corresponding to an adjacent SSB (e.g., the x-th SSB SSB _ x, m-1) in the (m-1) -th SSB period (or random SSB period)_{SSB_x,m-1}And a frequency offset Δ f corresponding to an adjacent SSB (e.g., the x-th SSB SSB _ x, m) in the m-th SSB period_{SSB_x,m}. In operation S235_3c, the afc 131 may base on the application result (e.g., the substitute frequency offset Δ f)_Alternate) Automatic frequency control is performed.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a symbol timing recovery controller 132 according to an example embodiment. Fig. 12 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the symbol timing recovery controller 132 of fig. 11.

Referring to fig. 11, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may include an adjacent SSB determiner 132a and/or an alternative symbol timing offset generator 132 b. The neighbor SSB determiner 132a may determine at least one neighbor SSB that may be used instead of the target SSB for performing symbol timing recovery from among the plurality of SSBs received within a particular SSB period. The method of determining the neighboring SSB performed by the neighboring SSB determiner 131a of fig. 4 discussed in conjunction with fig. 6A through 6B may also be performed by the neighboring SSB determiner 132a, and thus, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. According to some example embodiments, the operations described herein as being performed by the neighboring SSB determiner 132a and/or the alternate symbol timing offset generator 132b may be performed by a processing circuit.

The alternate symbol timing offset generator 132b may use the neighboring SSBs determined by the neighboring SSB determiner 132a to generate an alternate symbol timing offset. The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may perform symbol timing recovery based on the substitute symbol timing offset. The methods of operating the automatic frequency controller 131 discussed in connection with fig. 7-9B may be applied equally or similarly to the symbol timing recovery controller 132. In other words, similar to the automatic frequency controller 131, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may select one of the target SSB and/or at least one neighboring SSB received in an SSB period corresponding to a time at which the optimal reception beam is changed to another reception beam as a result of updating the optimal reception beam, and may perform symbol timing recovery with respect to the changed reception beam.

In fig. 12, it is assumed that the jth SSB _ j, m is a target SSB, the ith SSB _ i, m and the kth SSBSSB _ k, m are neighboring SSBs, the optimal reception beam is a first reception beam, and a reception beam to which the optimal reception beam is changed by scanning the reception beam is a second reception beam. The horizontal direction in fig. 12 does not indicate the time axis. Also, the illustration of fig. 12 is only an example, and the embodiment is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 12, the wireless communication apparatus may receive a plurality of SSBs of an xth SSB _ x, m to an yth SSB _ y, m from a base station in an mth SSB period, where'm' is an integer. In detail, the wireless communication apparatus may receive neighboring SSBs (e.g., an xth SSB _ x, m and an yth SSB _ y, m) via a first reception beam, and may receive a target SSB (e.g., a jth SSB _ j, m) via a second reception beam. The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may continuously perform symbol timing recovery for the first receive beam based on a symbol timing offset generated using a target SSB received in an SSB period prior to the mth SSB period. However, as the best receive beam is changed to the second receive beam in the mth SSB period, it may be desirable to determine whether the target SSB received via the second receive beam (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m) is suitable for the first symbol timing recovery STR 1.

Accordingly, when the best reception beam is changed to the second reception beam in the mth SSB period to update the best reception beam, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may determine whether to perform the first symbol timing recovery STR1 on the second reception beam using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m). The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may generate a reception quality of a target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m) and determine whether to perform the first symbol timing recovery STR1 based on the reception quality. For example, when the reception quality of the target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m) is equal to or higher than the reference quality, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may perform the first symbol timing recovery STR1 using the target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m). The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may generate a symbol timing offset using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m) and perform the first symbol timing recovery STR1 based on the symbol timing offset.

When the reception quality of the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m) is lower than the reference quality, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may perform the second symbol timing recovery STR2 and the third symbol timing recovery STR3 using the neighboring SSBs (e.g., the ith SSB _ i, m and/or the kth SSB _ k, m). In some embodiments, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may select one of the ith SSB _ i, m and/or the kth SSB _ k, m and perform symbol timing recovery corresponding to the selected neighbor SSB using the selected neighbor SSB.

Fig. 13A and 13B are diagrams for explaining a method of operating a symbol timing recovery controller according to an example embodiment. Reference will also be made to fig. 3 in the following description.

Referring to fig. 13A and 13B, a symbol timing offset between a transmission symbol timing _ TX of a base station and a symbol timing of the wireless communication apparatus 100 may be different for each SSB. For example, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may receive a target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m-1) and neighboring SSBs (e.g., ith SSB _ i, m-1 and kth SSB _ k, m-1) from the base station via the best reception beam (e.g., first reception beam) in an (m-1) th SSB period before the mth SSB period; and the symbol timing offset Δ timing _ SSBj, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the target SSB (e.g., jth SSB _ j, m-1) may be different from the symbol timing offsets Δ timing _ SSBi, m-1 and Δ timing _ SSBk, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the neighboring SSBs (e.g., ith SSB _ i, m-1 and kth SSB _ k, m-1). For example, the ith offset difference diff _ timing _ i may be between the symbol timing offset Δ timing _ SSBj, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSB _ j, m-1) and the symbol timing offset Δ timing _ SSBi, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the ith SSB _ i, m-1; and the kth offset difference diff _ timing _ k may be between a symbol timing offset Δ timing _ SSBj, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the target SSB (e.g., the jth SSBSSB _ j, m-1) and a symbol timing offset Δ timing _ SSBk, m-1 generated (or estimated) using the kth SSB _ k, m-1.

The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may use the symbol timing offsets Δ timing _ SSBj, m-1, Δ timing _ SSBi, m-1, and Δ timing _ SSBk, m-1 to generate the ith and kth offset differences diff _ timing _ i and diff _ timing _ k.

According to an example embodiment, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may generate an offset difference between a symbol timing offset generated (or estimated) using a target SSB received via a best receive beam in a particular SSB period and each symbol timing offset separately generated (or estimated) using a neighboring SSB received via the best receive beam. The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may then reflect the offset difference in symbol timing recovery using at least one SSB selected from the neighboring SSBs. In detail, when generating (or estimating) the substitute symbol timing offset using the neighboring SSBs (e.g., the ith SSB _ i, m and the kth SSB _ k, m) received in the mth SSB period in fig. 5, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may use the ith offset difference diff _ timing _ i and the kth offset difference diff _ timing _ k.

In detail, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may apply the offset difference using equation 4:

here, when

When the mass of (a) is unknown, a simple arithmetic mean can be calculated using equation 5:

when there are a plurality of neighboring SSBs (neighbor SSBs) SSB _ x, the symbol timing recovery controller 132 may generate the substitute symbol timing offset Δ t by performing a calculation on the following items based on equation 4 or equation 5_Alternate: symbol timing offset Δ t corresponding to target SSB (e.g., jth SSB SSB _ j, m-1)_{SSB_j,m-1}Symbol timing offset Δ t corresponding to an adjacent SSB (e.g., the x-th SSB SSB _ x, m-1) in the m-1 th SSB period (or random SSB period)_{SSB_x,m-1}And a symbol timing offset Δ t corresponding to an adjacent SSB (e.g., an xth SSB _ x, m) in the mth SSB period_{SSB_x,m}. The symbol timing recovery controller 132 may base the application result (e.g., the substitute symbol timing offset Δ t)_Alternate) To perform symbol timing recovery.

Fig. 14 is a block diagram of an electronic device 1000 according to an example embodiment.

Referring to fig. 14, the electronic device 1000 may include a memory 1010, a processor unit 1020, an input/output controller 1040, a display unit 1050, an input device 1060, and/or a communication processor 1090. Here, there may be multiple memories 1010. Each element will be described below.

The memory 1010 may include a program memory 1011 and/or a data memory 1012, wherein the program memory 1011 may store programs for controlling the operation of the electronic device 1000 and the data memory 1012 may store data generated during execution of the programs. The data store 1012 may store data for executing an application 1013 and/or an Automatic Frequency Control (AFC)/Symbol Timing Recovery (STR) routine 1014. The program memory 1011 may include an application program 1013 and/or an AFC/STR program 1014. Here, the program included in the program memory 1011 may be an instruction set, and is represented as an instruction set.

The application programs 1013 may include application programs that operate in the electronic device 1000. In other words, the application programs 1013 may include instructions for applications executed by a processing circuit (e.g., the processor 1022). According to an embodiment, when the optimal reception beam is changed to another reception beam as a result of updating the optimal reception beam, the AFC/STR program 1014 may select one of the target SSB and/or the at least one neighboring SSB received in the SSB period corresponding to the time of the beam change, and perform automatic frequency control and/or symbol timing recovery on the changed reception beam using the selected SSB.

The peripheral interface 1023 may control the connection between input/output peripherals of the base station, the processor 1022, and the memory interface 1021. Processor 1022 may control the base station to provide service using at least one software program. At this time, the processor 1022 may execute at least one program stored in the memory 1010 so that a service corresponding to the program may be provided.

Input/output controller 1040 may provide an interface between input/output devices (such as display unit 1050 and/or input device 1060) and a peripheral device interface 1023. The display unit 1050 may display status information, input text, moving pictures, and/or still pictures. For example, the display unit 1050 may display information about applications run by the processor 1022.

The input device 1060 may provide input data, which may be generated based on selections of the electronic apparatus 1000, to the processor unit 1020 through the input/output controller 1040. The input device 1060 may include a keypad including at least one hardware button and/or a touchpad that senses touch information. For example, the input device 1060 may provide touch information (such as a touch, movement of a touch, and/or release of a touch) detected by the touch panel to the processor 1022 through the input/output controller 1040. The electronic device 1000 may include a communication processor 1090 that may perform communication functions for voice communications and data communications. The communication processor 1090 may include at least one phased array. According to an embodiment, AFC/STR routine 1014 may control communication processor 1090 when the best receive beam is updated.

Conventional apparatuses for performing beamforming in a 5G communication system skip the performance of automatic frequency control and/or symbol timing recovery when the reception quality of the target SSB is not satisfactory while the reception beam is being changed. By skipping the execution of the automatic frequency control and/or the symbol timing recovery in such a case, the conventional apparatus degrades the communication performance between the conventional apparatuses within the 5G communication system.

However, some example embodiments describe the wireless communication apparatus 100 in which, when the reception quality of the target SSB is not satisfactory, the wireless communication apparatus 100 may perform automatic frequency control and/or symbol timing recovery using the neighboring SSB instead of skipping the performance of automatic frequency control and/or symbol timing recovery. Accordingly, the wireless communication apparatus 100 overcomes the above-described drawbacks of the conventional apparatus, thereby preventing or reducing degradation of communication performance.

While the inventive concept has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wireless communication device to correct for offset between a base station and the wireless communication device, the method comprising:

determining whether to perform offset correction using a first target SSB to produce a determination result in response to changing the selected reception beam from a first reception beam to a second reception beam in a synchronization signal block SSB period, wherein the first target SSB is received via the second reception beam; and is

Based on the determination, performing offset correction on the second receive beam using at least one first neighboring SSB, wherein the at least one first neighboring SSB is received via the first receive beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing offset correction comprises at least one of automatic frequency control or symbol timing recovery.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein,

as a first result of the beam scanning, a first receive beam is initially selected as the selected receive beam for wireless communication between the base station and the wireless communication device; and is

As a second result of the beam sweep, the first target SSB corresponds to a selected transmit beam of the base station, wherein the selected transmit beam is determined to be paired with the first receive beam.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source,

wherein the changing of the selected reception beam from the first reception beam to the second reception beam changes the selected reception beam to the second reception beam according to a variable communication environment of the wireless communication apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of SSBs via a first receive beam in the SSB period, wherein the plurality of SSBs does not include a first target SSB;

determining a reception quality of each of the plurality of SSBs; and is

Determining at least one SSB of the plurality of SSBs having a reception quality equal to or higher than a reference quality as the at least one first neighboring SSB.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source,

wherein the reception quality of each SSB of the plurality of SSBs comprises at least one of a reference signal received power, RSRP, or a signal-to-noise ratio, SNR.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to perform offset correction using the first target SSB comprises:

determining a reception quality of a first target SSB; and is

In response to the reception quality of the first target SSB being below the reference quality, it is determined to perform offset correction using the at least one first neighboring SSB.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the reference quality is set based on a reception quality of the at least one first neighboring SSB received in the SSB period and a reception quality of a second target SSB received in at least one other SSB period.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing offset correction comprises:

generating a first offset using the at least one first neighboring SSB, wherein the first offset comprises at least one of an alternate frequency offset or an alternate symbol timing offset; and is

Offset correction is performed based on the first offset.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the generating the first offset comprises:

generating a second offset using the at least one first neighboring SSB; and is

Generating a first offset by applying an offset difference to a second offset, wherein the offset difference is between a second target SSB and at least one second adjacent SSB, the second target SSB and the at least one second adjacent SSB being received via the first receive beam during at least one other SSB period.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing offset correction comprises:

generating a reception quality of the at least one first neighboring SSB; and is

Performing offset correction using the at least one first neighboring SSB in the SSB period in response to the reception quality of the at least one first neighboring SSB being equal to or higher than a reference quality.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein

The operation of performing offset correction on the second receive beam continuously performs offset correction on the second receive beam; and is

The operation of performing offset correction on the second receive beam performs offset correction on the second receive beam in response to the change after offset correction has been performed on the first receive beam.

13. A method of operating a wireless communication device that communicates with a base station via a selected beam pair comprising a selected transmit beam and a selected receive beam, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of adjacent Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) from a base station via the selected receive beam, wherein the plurality of adjacent SSBs are transmitted via a subset of a plurality of transmit beams, the subset of the plurality of transmit beams excluding the selected transmit beam, the selected receive beam is a first receive beam of a plurality of receive beams, and the selected transmit beam is a first transmit beam of the plurality of transmit beams;

receiving a target SSB via a second receive beam in response to changing the selected receive beam from the first receive beam to a second receive beam of the plurality of receive beams, wherein the target SSB is transmitted via the first transmit beam; and is

Performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery on a second receive beam using the plurality of adjacent SSBs.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source,

wherein the target SSB and the plurality of neighboring SSBs are received in one SSB period.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of a red light source, a green light source, and a blue light source,

wherein a reception quality of each of the plurality of neighboring SSBs is equal to or higher than a reference quality.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery comprises:

performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery on the second receive beam using the plurality of neighboring SSBs in response to the reception quality of the target SSB being below the reference quality.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery comprises:

selecting a neighboring SSB having a highest reception quality among the plurality of neighboring SSBs to obtain a selected neighboring SSB;

generating at least one of an alternative frequency offset and an alternative symbol timing offset using the selected neighboring SSBs; and is

At least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery is performed based on at least one of the alternate frequency offset and the alternate symbol timing offset.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery comprises:

generating at least one of an alternative frequency offset and an alternative symbol timing offset using the plurality of neighboring SSBs;

calculating at least one of a first average of the alternate frequency offsets and a second average of the alternate symbol timing offsets; and is

At least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery is performed based on at least one of the first average and the second average.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating at least one of a frequency offset difference and a symbol timing offset difference between a target SSB and each of the plurality of neighboring SSBs using a plurality of SSBs received from a base station in a specific SSB period,

wherein the step of performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery comprises,

generating at least one frequency offset and at least one symbol timing offset using the plurality of neighboring SSBs,

generating at least one of:

an alternate frequency offset generated by applying a frequency offset difference to the at least one frequency offset; and

an alternative symbol timing offset generated by applying a symbol timing offset difference to the at least one symbol timing offset, an

20. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of antennas configured to receive radio frequency, RF, signals from a base station via a plurality of receive beams;

a local oscillator configured to generate an oscillation signal having a local oscillation frequency; and

a processing circuit configured to

Generating a baseband signal using the RF signal and the oscillation signal, wherein the baseband signal includes a target synchronization signal block SSB received via a first receive beam of the plurality of receive beams and at least one adjacent SSB received via a second receive beam of the plurality of receive beams in response to a change of the selected receive beam from the first receive beam to the second receive beam, and

determining whether to perform automatic frequency control on the local oscillation frequency using the at least one neighboring SSB.

21. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 20, the processing circuitry configured to:

determining whether to perform symbol timing recovery using the at least one neighboring SSB.

22. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:

after performing at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery on the first receive beam, at least one of automatic frequency control and symbol timing recovery is continuously performed on the second receive beam in response to the selected receive beam changing from the first receive beam to the second receive beam.